In the News
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Doctor Werner Lang
2. Lac Magnétic, Quebec
3. Ralph Tarrant
4. Asiana Airlines
5. Robbie Deans
6. The Human Voice
7. Andy Flower
8. Steve Bate
9. Rory Kinnear
10. Malcolm Hayes
11. Reece Elliot
12. Barry George
13. Danny Nightingale
14. Manuel Pellegrini
15. Ashton Agar
16. Charles Foley
17. Albert de Salvo
18. Malala Yousafzai
19. Shahid Khan
20. Andy Harris
21. Martha Renee Kolleh
In Other News
1. What was the score in the third Lions v. Wallabies test?
2. Who scored the Lions’ tries in the final test?
3. Who was finally deported to Jordan last week?
4. What was announced by Michael Parkinson last week?
5. What was the score in the Wimbledon Men’s Singles final?
6. Who won the Wimbledon Ladies Singles?
7. Who resigned from the Privy Council last week?
8. Which famous volcano began erupting last week?
9. Who won the German Grand Prix?
10. Who was criticized for saying that the Wimbledon Ladies singles was never going to be “a looker”?
11. Who issued a press release saying that he is going to be divorcing his wife last week?
12. Laura Robson achieved a career high ranking last week – what is it ?
13. Which member of the Royal family announced that she is expecting a baby last week?
14. Which opera star suffered a pulmonary embolism last week?
15. Who agreed to appear before MPs last week?
16. Who was attacked in HMP Wakefield?
17. David Haye signed to fight whom last week?
18. The Eu have called for the UK to adopt which term as the maximum sentence without automatic review?
19. Athletes from which country failed over 30 drugs tests at the Mediterranean Games?
20. Ireland qualified for which world cup last week?
21. What is the controversial pay rise recommended by IPSA for MPs?
22. What is Barak Obama’s favourite food?
23. Which former champion is out of the world athletics championships in Moscow this summer?
24. Who top scored in England’s 1st innings in the first Ashes Test?
25. Who had urine thrown over him following a controversial incident in the previous day’s stage at the Tour de France?
26. James Anderson passed Freddie Trueman’s test wicket total in the first test. How many did Trueman take?
27. Which two firms are facing a public fraud probe?
28. In a poll of books which was the book that most people gave up before finishing?
29. What did George Osborne admit that he had never visited last week?
30. Whose sentence was referred to the Court of Appeal last week?
31. Which former original Eastenders actress passed away last week?
32. Which book topped the list of most abandoned modern classics?
33. The star of a popular series of TV adverts passed away last week – who was he and what did he advertise?
34. Where did Greenpeace activists make a protest last week?
35. What happened to the care pathway for terminally ill patients last week?
36. Name the Archers spin off which can only be picked up on digital radio?
37. The immigration backlog reached which figure last week?
38. Which welsh village is voting on the spelling of its name?
39. Which TV veteran passed away aged 87?
40. Heathrow was shut down following a 787 dreamliner fire. Which airline was involved?
41. Which famous actor was allegedly hurt during a stage fight in a production of Macbeth last week?
42. What happened in Bretigny sur Orge just outside Paris?
43. Who was widely condemned for failing to walk during the first test?
44. Which rugby player was allegedly knocked out in a brawl with a team mate, before he has even played for the club?
Saturday, 13 July 2013
Answers to News Questions
IN the News
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Sir Ian Kennedy
2. Marcel Kittel
3. Jan Bakelants
4. Yana Belinsky – Night Witch
5. Bob Lambert
6. Michael Cope
7. Sabine Lisicki
8. Kaia Kanepi
9. Marcus Setchell
10. Jo Clarke
11. Michael Birch
12. Jim Kelly
13. George Smith
14. Fernando Verdasco
15. Nicolay Lamm
16. Sir Norman Bettinson
17. Khat
18. Alun Wyn Jones
19. Joey Chestnut
20. Adli Mansour
21. Douglas Engelbart
22. Lord Freud
23. Duwayne Brooks
24. Mark Forstater
In Other News
1. Who was criticized for singing for the President of Turkmenistan last week?
2. Which driver won the British GP?
3. How many tyre mishaps were there during the race, which led to much criticism of suppliers Pirelli?
4. Which Jamaican athlete is reportedly out of the Jamaican team for the world championships in Moscow?
5. What has been banned by the EU for containing too much sulphate?
6. Who visited Nelson Mandela’s cell on Robben Island last week?
7. At midnight on June 30th which became the 28th member of the EU?
8. What is Bula Quo?
9. Which TV channel is broadcasting a muezzin call to prayer every night of the month of Ramadan?
10. What is happening to Thomas Cook European timetables and other publications of theirs?
11. Which British rider in the Tour de France sustained a fractured pelvis during a crash on the first stage of the race?
12. Which snooker player was diagnosed with testicular cancer?
13. A BBC show accused stalls at which theme park of rigging fairground games to make them more difficult to win?
14. England warmed up for the Ashes by playing a match against which county?
15. Who contested the two ladies singles semi finals at Wimbledon?
16. Who was granted a second reprieve for an alleged stamping offence?
17. Which team did Steve McLaren join as a coach?
18. Who withdrew an application for asylum in Russia?
19. Which former Ryder Cup player and captain failed to make it through qualifying for The Open?
20. Who announced that he is retiring from cricket at the end of the season?
21. What was the name of the Egyptian president ousted by the army in a coup d’Etat?
22. Who is abdicating in favour of his son Prince Phillippe?
23. Who was dropped from a series of adverts after filing for bankruptcy for a second time?
24. Wh0o left his speech in the House of Commons toilet?
25. Who was very controversially dropped from the Centre for the decisive 3rd Lions test?
26. Which number stage of the Tour was the first to be won by Mark Cavendish this year?
27. Who contested the Wimbledon Men’s singles this year?
28. Who will contest both the men’s and ladies singles finals this year?
29. Which singer passed away aged 52?
30. Which landmark reopened last week, following damage by Hurricane Sandy?
31. What was voted the UKs top TV drama moment?
32. Who made the news when he was released from prison last week?
33. Doctors advised family members to turn off whose life support machine last week?
34. Which rapper was charged with assaulting his ex girlfriend?
35. What will be given to over 2000 babies born on the same day as the royal baby?
36. Which city was picked to host the 2018 Youth Olympic Games?
37. What record was broken by the Djokovic – Del Potro match at Wimbledon?
38. What caused the arguments in Andy Murray’s semi final win?
39. Who signed a one year contract for West Bromwich Albion?
40. The BBC announced it will be shelving what due to a lack of public interest?
41. Who became an Apache helicopter commander last week?
42. Which of the judges is leaving “The Voice”?
43. Which constituency is at the heart of the Labour Party/Unite Union furore?
44. Which two popes are both to be canonized?
Answers
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Head of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority who recommended a £10,000pa rise for MPs
2. Winner of first stage of the Tour de France
3. Winner of the second stage of the Tour de France
4. First ever female lead character in Commando War Comic
5. Former Scotland Yard officer claims that there was no attempt to smear the Lawrence family
6. Boyfriend of murdered Linzi Ashton, for whom there has been a police manhunt
7. 24th seed who reached the Wimbledon ladies final, beating Serena Williams along the way.
8. Player who knocked Laura Robson out of the ladies singles at Wimbledon
9. Royal Gynaecologist who will deliver Kate and William’s baby
10. Shopper told by Sainsbury’s assistant to get off her mobile phone or she would not serve her.
11. Creator Bebo – originally sold it for $850 million, bought it back for $1million last week
12. Martial arts actor from Enter The Dragon – passed away last week
13. Player brought back into Australian RU squad 2 years after retiring from international rugby
14. Took Andy Murray to five sets in their Wimbledon ¼ final
15. Redesigned a more ‘realistic’ Barbie doll
16. Referred to IPCC over Lawrence family smear claims
17. Legal intoxicant, used among Ethiopian and Somali communities in UK – to be banned against the advice of the ACMD
18. Captain of Lions in 3rd test v. Wallabies
19. Set a world record for eating 69 frankfurters ( silly sod)
20. Acting president of Egypt
21. Inventor of the computer mouse – passed away
22. Claimed that increased use of food banks is not related to cuts in benefits
23. Friend of Stephen Lawrence, bugged by police.
24. Producer of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, awarded a share in Spamalot by the High Court.
In Other News
1. Jennifer Lopez
2. Nico Rosberg
3. 6
4. Yohan Blake
5. Milk of Magnesia
6. Barack Obama
7. Croatia
8. It’s a new film starring Status Quo
9. Channel 4
10. They will no longer be printed, although some will still be available online
11. Geraint Thomas- Team sky
12. Ali Carter
13. Thorpe Park
14. Essex
15. Lisicki v. Radwanska – Bartoli v. Flipkens
16. James Horwill
17. Queens Park Rangers
18. Edward Snowden
19. Colin Montgomerie
20. Darren Maddy
21. Mohammad Morsi
22. King Albert II of Belgium
23. Kerry Katona
24. Ed Milliband
25. Brian O’Driscoll
26. 5th stage
27. Djokovic v. Del Potro – Murray v. Janowicz
28. Lisicki v. Bartoli
29. Bernie Nolan
30. The Statue of Liberty
31. Colin Firth jumping in the lake as Mr. Darcy
32. Jon Venables
33. Nelson Mandela
34. 50 cent
35. A ‘lucky’ special edition silver penny
36. Buenos Aires
37. It was the longest ever at 4 hours 43 minutes
38. The closing of the roof for bad light
39. Nicolas Anelka
40. 3D programming
41. Prince Harry
42. Jessie J
43. Falkirk
44. John Paul II and John XXIII
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Sir Ian Kennedy
2. Marcel Kittel
3. Jan Bakelants
4. Yana Belinsky – Night Witch
5. Bob Lambert
6. Michael Cope
7. Sabine Lisicki
8. Kaia Kanepi
9. Marcus Setchell
10. Jo Clarke
11. Michael Birch
12. Jim Kelly
13. George Smith
14. Fernando Verdasco
15. Nicolay Lamm
16. Sir Norman Bettinson
17. Khat
18. Alun Wyn Jones
19. Joey Chestnut
20. Adli Mansour
21. Douglas Engelbart
22. Lord Freud
23. Duwayne Brooks
24. Mark Forstater
In Other News
1. Who was criticized for singing for the President of Turkmenistan last week?
2. Which driver won the British GP?
3. How many tyre mishaps were there during the race, which led to much criticism of suppliers Pirelli?
4. Which Jamaican athlete is reportedly out of the Jamaican team for the world championships in Moscow?
5. What has been banned by the EU for containing too much sulphate?
6. Who visited Nelson Mandela’s cell on Robben Island last week?
7. At midnight on June 30th which became the 28th member of the EU?
8. What is Bula Quo?
9. Which TV channel is broadcasting a muezzin call to prayer every night of the month of Ramadan?
10. What is happening to Thomas Cook European timetables and other publications of theirs?
11. Which British rider in the Tour de France sustained a fractured pelvis during a crash on the first stage of the race?
12. Which snooker player was diagnosed with testicular cancer?
13. A BBC show accused stalls at which theme park of rigging fairground games to make them more difficult to win?
14. England warmed up for the Ashes by playing a match against which county?
15. Who contested the two ladies singles semi finals at Wimbledon?
16. Who was granted a second reprieve for an alleged stamping offence?
17. Which team did Steve McLaren join as a coach?
18. Who withdrew an application for asylum in Russia?
19. Which former Ryder Cup player and captain failed to make it through qualifying for The Open?
20. Who announced that he is retiring from cricket at the end of the season?
21. What was the name of the Egyptian president ousted by the army in a coup d’Etat?
22. Who is abdicating in favour of his son Prince Phillippe?
23. Who was dropped from a series of adverts after filing for bankruptcy for a second time?
24. Wh0o left his speech in the House of Commons toilet?
25. Who was very controversially dropped from the Centre for the decisive 3rd Lions test?
26. Which number stage of the Tour was the first to be won by Mark Cavendish this year?
27. Who contested the Wimbledon Men’s singles this year?
28. Who will contest both the men’s and ladies singles finals this year?
29. Which singer passed away aged 52?
30. Which landmark reopened last week, following damage by Hurricane Sandy?
31. What was voted the UKs top TV drama moment?
32. Who made the news when he was released from prison last week?
33. Doctors advised family members to turn off whose life support machine last week?
34. Which rapper was charged with assaulting his ex girlfriend?
35. What will be given to over 2000 babies born on the same day as the royal baby?
36. Which city was picked to host the 2018 Youth Olympic Games?
37. What record was broken by the Djokovic – Del Potro match at Wimbledon?
38. What caused the arguments in Andy Murray’s semi final win?
39. Who signed a one year contract for West Bromwich Albion?
40. The BBC announced it will be shelving what due to a lack of public interest?
41. Who became an Apache helicopter commander last week?
42. Which of the judges is leaving “The Voice”?
43. Which constituency is at the heart of the Labour Party/Unite Union furore?
44. Which two popes are both to be canonized?
Answers
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Head of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority who recommended a £10,000pa rise for MPs
2. Winner of first stage of the Tour de France
3. Winner of the second stage of the Tour de France
4. First ever female lead character in Commando War Comic
5. Former Scotland Yard officer claims that there was no attempt to smear the Lawrence family
6. Boyfriend of murdered Linzi Ashton, for whom there has been a police manhunt
7. 24th seed who reached the Wimbledon ladies final, beating Serena Williams along the way.
8. Player who knocked Laura Robson out of the ladies singles at Wimbledon
9. Royal Gynaecologist who will deliver Kate and William’s baby
10. Shopper told by Sainsbury’s assistant to get off her mobile phone or she would not serve her.
11. Creator Bebo – originally sold it for $850 million, bought it back for $1million last week
12. Martial arts actor from Enter The Dragon – passed away last week
13. Player brought back into Australian RU squad 2 years after retiring from international rugby
14. Took Andy Murray to five sets in their Wimbledon ¼ final
15. Redesigned a more ‘realistic’ Barbie doll
16. Referred to IPCC over Lawrence family smear claims
17. Legal intoxicant, used among Ethiopian and Somali communities in UK – to be banned against the advice of the ACMD
18. Captain of Lions in 3rd test v. Wallabies
19. Set a world record for eating 69 frankfurters ( silly sod)
20. Acting president of Egypt
21. Inventor of the computer mouse – passed away
22. Claimed that increased use of food banks is not related to cuts in benefits
23. Friend of Stephen Lawrence, bugged by police.
24. Producer of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, awarded a share in Spamalot by the High Court.
In Other News
1. Jennifer Lopez
2. Nico Rosberg
3. 6
4. Yohan Blake
5. Milk of Magnesia
6. Barack Obama
7. Croatia
8. It’s a new film starring Status Quo
9. Channel 4
10. They will no longer be printed, although some will still be available online
11. Geraint Thomas- Team sky
12. Ali Carter
13. Thorpe Park
14. Essex
15. Lisicki v. Radwanska – Bartoli v. Flipkens
16. James Horwill
17. Queens Park Rangers
18. Edward Snowden
19. Colin Montgomerie
20. Darren Maddy
21. Mohammad Morsi
22. King Albert II of Belgium
23. Kerry Katona
24. Ed Milliband
25. Brian O’Driscoll
26. 5th stage
27. Djokovic v. Del Potro – Murray v. Janowicz
28. Lisicki v. Bartoli
29. Bernie Nolan
30. The Statue of Liberty
31. Colin Firth jumping in the lake as Mr. Darcy
32. Jon Venables
33. Nelson Mandela
34. 50 cent
35. A ‘lucky’ special edition silver penny
36. Buenos Aires
37. It was the longest ever at 4 hours 43 minutes
38. The closing of the roof for bad light
39. Nicolas Anelka
40. 3D programming
41. Prince Harry
42. Jessie J
43. Falkirk
44. John Paul II and John XXIII
Saturday, 6 July 2013
In The News
In the News
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Sir Ian Kennedy
2. Marcel Kittel
3. Jan Bakelants
4. Yana Belinsky – Night Witch
5. Bob Lambert
6. Michael Cope
7. Sabine Lisicki
8. Kaia Kanepi
9. Marcus Setchell
10. Jo Clarke
11. Michael Birch
12. Jim Kelly
13. George Smith
14. Fernando Verdasco
15. Nicolay Lamm
16. Sir Norman Bettinson
17. Khat
18. Alun Wyn Jones
19. Joey Chestnut
20. Adli Mansour
21. Douglas Engelbart
22. Lord Freud
23. Duwayne Brooks
24. Mark Forstater
In Other News
1. Who was criticized for singing for the President of Turkmenistan last week?
2. Which driver won the British GP?
3. How many tyre mishaps were there during the race, which led to much criticism of suppliers Pirelli?
4. Which Jamaican athlete is reportedly out of the Jamaican team for the world championships in Moscow?
5. What has been banned by the EU for containing too much sulphate?
6. Who visited Nelson Mandela’s cell on Robben Island last week?
7. At midnight on June 30th which became the 28th member of the EU?
8. What is Bula Quo?
9. Which TV channel is broadcasting a muezzin call to prayer every night of the month of Ramadan?
10. What is happening to Thomas Cook European timetables and other publications of theirs?
11. Which British rider in the Tour de France sustained a fractured pelvis during a crash on the first stage of the race?
12. Which snooker player was diagnosed with testicular cancer?
13. A BBC show accused stalls at which theme park of rigging fairground games to make them more difficult to win?
14. England warmed up for the Ashes by playing a match against which county?
15. Who contested the two ladies singles semi finals at Wimbledon?
16. Who was granted a second reprieve for an alleged stamping offence?
17. Which team did Steve McLaren join as a coach?
18. Who withdrew an application for asylum in Russia?
19. Which former Ryder Cup player and captain failed to make it through qualifying for The Open?
20. Who announced that he is retiring from cricket at the end of the season?
21. What was the name of the Egyptian president ousted by the army in a coup d’Etat?
22. Who is abdicating in favour of his son Prince Phillippe?
23. Who was dropped from a series of adverts after filing for bankruptcy for a second time?
24. Wh0o left his speech in the House of Commons toilet?
25. Who was very controversially dropped from the Centre for the decisive 3rd Lions test?
26. Which number stage of the Tour was the first to be won by Mark Cavendish this year?
27. Who contested the Wimbledon Men’s singles this year?
28. Who will contest both the men’s and ladies singles finals this year?
29. Which singer passed away aged 52?
30. Which landmark reopened last week, following damage by Hurricane Sandy?
31. What was voted the UKs top TV drama moment?
32. Who made the news when he was released from prison last week?
33. Doctors advised family members to turn off whose life support machine last week?
34. Which rapper was charged with assaulting his ex girlfriend?
35. What will be given to over 2000 babies born on the same day as the royal baby?
36. Which city was picked to host the 2018 Youth Olympic Games?
37. What record was broken by the Djokovic – Del Potro match at Wimbledon?
38. What caused the arguments in Andy Murray’s semi final win?
39. Who signed a one year contract for West Bromwich Albion?
40. The BBC announced it will be shelving what due to a lack of public interest?
41. Who became an Apache helicopter commander last week?
42. Which of the judges is leaving “The Voice”?
43. Which constituency is at the heart of the Labour Party/Unite Union furore?
44. Which two popes are both to be canonized?
Who or what are the following and why have they been in the news?
1. Sir Ian Kennedy
2. Marcel Kittel
3. Jan Bakelants
4. Yana Belinsky – Night Witch
5. Bob Lambert
6. Michael Cope
7. Sabine Lisicki
8. Kaia Kanepi
9. Marcus Setchell
10. Jo Clarke
11. Michael Birch
12. Jim Kelly
13. George Smith
14. Fernando Verdasco
15. Nicolay Lamm
16. Sir Norman Bettinson
17. Khat
18. Alun Wyn Jones
19. Joey Chestnut
20. Adli Mansour
21. Douglas Engelbart
22. Lord Freud
23. Duwayne Brooks
24. Mark Forstater
In Other News
1. Who was criticized for singing for the President of Turkmenistan last week?
2. Which driver won the British GP?
3. How many tyre mishaps were there during the race, which led to much criticism of suppliers Pirelli?
4. Which Jamaican athlete is reportedly out of the Jamaican team for the world championships in Moscow?
5. What has been banned by the EU for containing too much sulphate?
6. Who visited Nelson Mandela’s cell on Robben Island last week?
7. At midnight on June 30th which became the 28th member of the EU?
8. What is Bula Quo?
9. Which TV channel is broadcasting a muezzin call to prayer every night of the month of Ramadan?
10. What is happening to Thomas Cook European timetables and other publications of theirs?
11. Which British rider in the Tour de France sustained a fractured pelvis during a crash on the first stage of the race?
12. Which snooker player was diagnosed with testicular cancer?
13. A BBC show accused stalls at which theme park of rigging fairground games to make them more difficult to win?
14. England warmed up for the Ashes by playing a match against which county?
15. Who contested the two ladies singles semi finals at Wimbledon?
16. Who was granted a second reprieve for an alleged stamping offence?
17. Which team did Steve McLaren join as a coach?
18. Who withdrew an application for asylum in Russia?
19. Which former Ryder Cup player and captain failed to make it through qualifying for The Open?
20. Who announced that he is retiring from cricket at the end of the season?
21. What was the name of the Egyptian president ousted by the army in a coup d’Etat?
22. Who is abdicating in favour of his son Prince Phillippe?
23. Who was dropped from a series of adverts after filing for bankruptcy for a second time?
24. Wh0o left his speech in the House of Commons toilet?
25. Who was very controversially dropped from the Centre for the decisive 3rd Lions test?
26. Which number stage of the Tour was the first to be won by Mark Cavendish this year?
27. Who contested the Wimbledon Men’s singles this year?
28. Who will contest both the men’s and ladies singles finals this year?
29. Which singer passed away aged 52?
30. Which landmark reopened last week, following damage by Hurricane Sandy?
31. What was voted the UKs top TV drama moment?
32. Who made the news when he was released from prison last week?
33. Doctors advised family members to turn off whose life support machine last week?
34. Which rapper was charged with assaulting his ex girlfriend?
35. What will be given to over 2000 babies born on the same day as the royal baby?
36. Which city was picked to host the 2018 Youth Olympic Games?
37. What record was broken by the Djokovic – Del Potro match at Wimbledon?
38. What caused the arguments in Andy Murray’s semi final win?
39. Who signed a one year contract for West Bromwich Albion?
40. The BBC announced it will be shelving what due to a lack of public interest?
41. Who became an Apache helicopter commander last week?
42. Which of the judges is leaving “The Voice”?
43. Which constituency is at the heart of the Labour Party/Unite Union furore?
44. Which two popes are both to be canonized?
Answers to News Questions
In the News
Who Or What Are the Following and why have they been in the news?
1. Trenton Oldfield
2. Walle
3. Andrea Begley
4. Kaesong
5. Jeffrey Osborne
6. Lin Harmer
7. Zaid Al Hilli
8. Nik Wallenda
9. Mickey Arthur
10. Steve Darcis
11. Digby Ioane
12. Mick Aston
13. Wendy Williams
14. Maria Kirilenko
15. Aaron Hernandez
16. Caroline Lucas
17. Lord Drayson
18. Cambodian Tailor Bird
19. Sergiy Stakhovsky
20. Ernest Gulbis
21. Iain Lawrence
22. Adam Brown
23. Dark Seoul
24. Get Lucky
25. Wendy Davis
26. Scott Horwill
27. White Throated Needletail
28. Kimiko Date Krumm
29. George Stark
30. Chip Starnes
In Other News
1. Which team won cricket’s Champions Trophy?
2. Which English city began an experiment with ‘car-free Sundays’?
3. Which US cakes made a comeback last week?
4. Where did the Archbishop of Canterbury visit last week?
5. A homemade explosive device was found in a mosque in which midlands town?
6. How did Gus Poyet find out he’d been sacked by Brighton and Hove Albion last week?
7. What was the score in the Under 20 Rugby Union World Final?
8. In which position did Team GB finish in the European team Athletics championships?
9. Who won the title in the British professional cycle road racing championship?
10. For how many years was Silvio Berlusconi sentenced for underage sex and misusing his position to cover it up?
11. Which batsman was dropped from England’s Ashes squad?
12. Name the Irish lock injured and out of the 2nd and 3rd Lions tests
13. Who is the new coach of the Australian cricket team?
14. Who is the new head coach of European Champions Bayern Munich?
15. Which Middle Eastern ruler abdicated in favour of his son?
16. In which airport was Edward Snowden reported last week?
17. Which part of the UK was visited by the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall?
18. Carlo Ancelotti is the new manager of which club?
19. What was the score in the tour match between the Lions and Melbourne Rebels?
20. Which 38 year old admitted he had just read his first book?
21. Which figure will be replacing Charles Darwin on the new £10 note?
22. Julia Gillard was replaced laast week by the man she ousted herself three years ago. Who is he?
23. To what did the Supreme Court of the USA give recognition last week?
24. Which player claimed that he has joined Real Madrid last week?
25. Which MP claimed that she will not claim parliamentary expenses?
26. Who announced his retirement from Formula One from the end of the season?
27. What was the result of Ian Brady’s appeal?
28. Which famous painting was defaced last week, allegedly by a member of Fathers 4 Justice?
29. Which company have been forced to remove the WHO logo from their adverts for baby milk?
30. For which event will it be necessary to obtain a bagpipe permit, in order to play the aforesaid instrument?
31. Which country is beginning negotiations to join the EU?
Answers
1. 2012 Boat Race protestor asked to leave the country
2. The world’s Ugliest Dog
3. Winner of The Voice
4. New World Heritage site in North Korea
5. Soul singer Obama confused with George Osborne
6. Head of HMRC denied any wrongdoing to Public Accounts COmmittee
7. Brother of Alps murder victim, arrested on suspicion of the murder
8. Did tightrope walk across Niagara Falls
9. Asutralian cricket coach sacked on eve of the Ashes
10. Knocked out Nadal in round 1 of Wimbledon
11. Australian out of 2nd and 3rd Lions tests after a warrant was issued for his arrest
12. Professor, regular on Time Team – passed away
13. Senior RAF nurse won sexism case against MOD
14. Wimbledon 10th seed defeated by Laura Robson
15. Professional Gridiron player accused of murder
16. Wore a No More Page 3 T Shirt to a Commons committee
17. Beat the land speed record for electric cars – new record 204 mph
18. New species of bird identified
19. Knocked Federer out of Wimbledon singles in round 2 match
20. Won when Jo Wilfred Tsonga pulled out with injury
21. Convicted of murder by deliberately crashing after disabling his wife’s airbag
22. Broke Mark Foster’s British 50m freestyle swimming record
23. Group of Cyber hackers targeting South Korea
24. Daft Punk song – 1 million downloads in 69 days
25. Texas senator who made a 10 hour filibuster to stymie anti abortion bill
26. IRB asked the Australian RFU to review their decision to clear him of stamping in the first test
27. Rare bird – twitchers trekked to Island of Harris to see it – it was killed flying into a wind turbine
28. 42 year old who became the oldest woman to make the 3rd round of Wimbledon singles
29. Mail Online journalist threatened online by Alec Baldwin
30. US Executive help prisoner by employees in China, demanding a severance package
In Other News
1. India
2. Bristol
3. Hostess Twinkies
4. The Middle East
5. Walsall
6. He was taking part in a TV show when a production assistant brought him the press release from the club which announced his sacking
7. England 23- Wales 15
8. 3rd
9. Mark Cavendish
10. 7 years
11. Nick Compton
12. Paul O’Connell
13. Darren Lehman
14. Pep Guardiola
15. The Emir of Kuwait
16. Moscow
17. Northern Ireland
18. Real Madrid
19. 35 - 0
20. Jamie Oliver
21. Jane Austen
22. Kevin Rudd
23. Same Sex Marriage
24. Luis Suarez
25. Nadine Dorries
26. Mark Webber
27. He lost, and will be staying in Ashworth hospital
28. The Haywain by Constable
29. Danone
30. The England v Scotland football match at Wembley in August
31. Serbia
Who Or What Are the Following and why have they been in the news?
1. Trenton Oldfield
2. Walle
3. Andrea Begley
4. Kaesong
5. Jeffrey Osborne
6. Lin Harmer
7. Zaid Al Hilli
8. Nik Wallenda
9. Mickey Arthur
10. Steve Darcis
11. Digby Ioane
12. Mick Aston
13. Wendy Williams
14. Maria Kirilenko
15. Aaron Hernandez
16. Caroline Lucas
17. Lord Drayson
18. Cambodian Tailor Bird
19. Sergiy Stakhovsky
20. Ernest Gulbis
21. Iain Lawrence
22. Adam Brown
23. Dark Seoul
24. Get Lucky
25. Wendy Davis
26. Scott Horwill
27. White Throated Needletail
28. Kimiko Date Krumm
29. George Stark
30. Chip Starnes
In Other News
1. Which team won cricket’s Champions Trophy?
2. Which English city began an experiment with ‘car-free Sundays’?
3. Which US cakes made a comeback last week?
4. Where did the Archbishop of Canterbury visit last week?
5. A homemade explosive device was found in a mosque in which midlands town?
6. How did Gus Poyet find out he’d been sacked by Brighton and Hove Albion last week?
7. What was the score in the Under 20 Rugby Union World Final?
8. In which position did Team GB finish in the European team Athletics championships?
9. Who won the title in the British professional cycle road racing championship?
10. For how many years was Silvio Berlusconi sentenced for underage sex and misusing his position to cover it up?
11. Which batsman was dropped from England’s Ashes squad?
12. Name the Irish lock injured and out of the 2nd and 3rd Lions tests
13. Who is the new coach of the Australian cricket team?
14. Who is the new head coach of European Champions Bayern Munich?
15. Which Middle Eastern ruler abdicated in favour of his son?
16. In which airport was Edward Snowden reported last week?
17. Which part of the UK was visited by the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall?
18. Carlo Ancelotti is the new manager of which club?
19. What was the score in the tour match between the Lions and Melbourne Rebels?
20. Which 38 year old admitted he had just read his first book?
21. Which figure will be replacing Charles Darwin on the new £10 note?
22. Julia Gillard was replaced laast week by the man she ousted herself three years ago. Who is he?
23. To what did the Supreme Court of the USA give recognition last week?
24. Which player claimed that he has joined Real Madrid last week?
25. Which MP claimed that she will not claim parliamentary expenses?
26. Who announced his retirement from Formula One from the end of the season?
27. What was the result of Ian Brady’s appeal?
28. Which famous painting was defaced last week, allegedly by a member of Fathers 4 Justice?
29. Which company have been forced to remove the WHO logo from their adverts for baby milk?
30. For which event will it be necessary to obtain a bagpipe permit, in order to play the aforesaid instrument?
31. Which country is beginning negotiations to join the EU?
Answers
1. 2012 Boat Race protestor asked to leave the country
2. The world’s Ugliest Dog
3. Winner of The Voice
4. New World Heritage site in North Korea
5. Soul singer Obama confused with George Osborne
6. Head of HMRC denied any wrongdoing to Public Accounts COmmittee
7. Brother of Alps murder victim, arrested on suspicion of the murder
8. Did tightrope walk across Niagara Falls
9. Asutralian cricket coach sacked on eve of the Ashes
10. Knocked out Nadal in round 1 of Wimbledon
11. Australian out of 2nd and 3rd Lions tests after a warrant was issued for his arrest
12. Professor, regular on Time Team – passed away
13. Senior RAF nurse won sexism case against MOD
14. Wimbledon 10th seed defeated by Laura Robson
15. Professional Gridiron player accused of murder
16. Wore a No More Page 3 T Shirt to a Commons committee
17. Beat the land speed record for electric cars – new record 204 mph
18. New species of bird identified
19. Knocked Federer out of Wimbledon singles in round 2 match
20. Won when Jo Wilfred Tsonga pulled out with injury
21. Convicted of murder by deliberately crashing after disabling his wife’s airbag
22. Broke Mark Foster’s British 50m freestyle swimming record
23. Group of Cyber hackers targeting South Korea
24. Daft Punk song – 1 million downloads in 69 days
25. Texas senator who made a 10 hour filibuster to stymie anti abortion bill
26. IRB asked the Australian RFU to review their decision to clear him of stamping in the first test
27. Rare bird – twitchers trekked to Island of Harris to see it – it was killed flying into a wind turbine
28. 42 year old who became the oldest woman to make the 3rd round of Wimbledon singles
29. Mail Online journalist threatened online by Alec Baldwin
30. US Executive help prisoner by employees in China, demanding a severance package
In Other News
1. India
2. Bristol
3. Hostess Twinkies
4. The Middle East
5. Walsall
6. He was taking part in a TV show when a production assistant brought him the press release from the club which announced his sacking
7. England 23- Wales 15
8. 3rd
9. Mark Cavendish
10. 7 years
11. Nick Compton
12. Paul O’Connell
13. Darren Lehman
14. Pep Guardiola
15. The Emir of Kuwait
16. Moscow
17. Northern Ireland
18. Real Madrid
19. 35 - 0
20. Jamie Oliver
21. Jane Austen
22. Kevin Rudd
23. Same Sex Marriage
24. Luis Suarez
25. Nadine Dorries
26. Mark Webber
27. He lost, and will be staying in Ashworth hospital
28. The Haywain by Constable
29. Danone
30. The England v Scotland football match at Wembley in August
31. Serbia
Friday, 5 July 2013
Questions v. Pictures take 2 : CIU Semi Finals
I asked the question a couple of weeks ago – is it better to have the highest score in the questions, but lose the overall quiz because of the picture handout, or to have a lower score in the questions but win the overall quiz because of the picture handout. Well, I know now. It’s the former. How do I know? Since we lost the questions but won on the handout on Thursday evening. It wasn’t quite the usual handout we have in the rugby club, which is normally 25 – 30 faces to identify. This one consisted of 2 sheets, and the first of these showed 20 car badges. I’m sure that you’ve played something like this before – I know I have. In fact I’ve even made a handout like this before. So the full marks that we earned on this sheet put us well on the way to winning the handout. The three point advantage we gained on this was enough to offset the two point deficit we had on the questions.
Wins over Lemurs in the club are rare enough that I should have been cock a hoop going home on Thursday evening, but the fact was that all I could do was dwell on the one round where we completely got the wrong end of the stick, and conceded three points to them. Still, it was a good quiz, a Brian special. Let me share his last connection set with you : -
1: What is the more common word for an anthropophagus?
2: Which of Rupert Bear’s friends has the initials B.B.?
3: Which plane was made by Mikoyan and Gurevich?
4: What is the connection between your last three answers?
We had all three answers – cannibal – Bill Badger – Mig, but couldn’t see any connection at all. Then suddenly I had a lightbulb moment. Cannibal was the nickname of Eddie Merckx – Badger of Bernard Hinault – and Big Mig of Miguel Indurain. Each of them won the Tour de France five times. As it happened Brian was giving the mark for just for winners. Great connection
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Last Monday saw the Wales and West of England CIU semi final. It’s been a few years since we last won this, and for a couple of rounds it just looked as if we might be in with a chance. We had full marks in the first round, and full marks in the first handout, where we were asked to name 10 chemical elements whose name in English begins with a different letter from their symbol – fo0r example Tin – Sn and Antimony – Sb. In fact we did well on both handouts, for a change, but our chances nosedived when we had a mare on TV and Films, which has so often been a banker subject for us in the past. Then we had another one on sport, and before we knew it Maesglas A – former national champions – were over the event horizon, and we were even under pressure for third place.
We were a point behind second place, and a point and a half above fourth when we had the Who Am I? – question. We actually always had the right answer on the table, but played safety first to guarantee qualification, and held on to third. It was another good quiz, although frankly it wasn’t the finest performance we’ve ever put in, but it was enough, and if you too have qualified for the finals, we’ll see you in Derby in September.
Wins over Lemurs in the club are rare enough that I should have been cock a hoop going home on Thursday evening, but the fact was that all I could do was dwell on the one round where we completely got the wrong end of the stick, and conceded three points to them. Still, it was a good quiz, a Brian special. Let me share his last connection set with you : -
1: What is the more common word for an anthropophagus?
2: Which of Rupert Bear’s friends has the initials B.B.?
3: Which plane was made by Mikoyan and Gurevich?
4: What is the connection between your last three answers?
We had all three answers – cannibal – Bill Badger – Mig, but couldn’t see any connection at all. Then suddenly I had a lightbulb moment. Cannibal was the nickname of Eddie Merckx – Badger of Bernard Hinault – and Big Mig of Miguel Indurain. Each of them won the Tour de France five times. As it happened Brian was giving the mark for just for winners. Great connection
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Last Monday saw the Wales and West of England CIU semi final. It’s been a few years since we last won this, and for a couple of rounds it just looked as if we might be in with a chance. We had full marks in the first round, and full marks in the first handout, where we were asked to name 10 chemical elements whose name in English begins with a different letter from their symbol – fo0r example Tin – Sn and Antimony – Sb. In fact we did well on both handouts, for a change, but our chances nosedived when we had a mare on TV and Films, which has so often been a banker subject for us in the past. Then we had another one on sport, and before we knew it Maesglas A – former national champions – were over the event horizon, and we were even under pressure for third place.
We were a point behind second place, and a point and a half above fourth when we had the Who Am I? – question. We actually always had the right answer on the table, but played safety first to guarantee qualification, and held on to third. It was another good quiz, although frankly it wasn’t the finest performance we’ve ever put in, but it was enough, and if you too have qualified for the finals, we’ll see you in Derby in September.
Only Connect - Round One - Qualification match 2
Francophiles v. Fell Walkers
Another show which put two unbeaten teams against each other to sort out who went straight into the semis. The Francophiles won a great close game against the Festival Fans in their first match. Well, we’ve already seen that the Fans are a formidable team, having won their second match. So the team of Ian Clark , Sam Goodyear, and captain Mark Walton were fancied to go well in this show. Well, they were on the Clark sofa, anyway. The Fell Walkers beat the General Practitioners with a very convincing performance on the vowels in their own first round. The GPS are out of the series, losing fairly convincingly to the Festival Fans, the Francophiles own victims. So maybe I was doing Jim Taylor, Craig Almond and captain Mike Amberry a disservice, but my pre show form guide suggested they would be underdogs.
Round One – What’s the Connection?
The Francs won the toss and elected to be first receivers. Captain Mark opted for Twisted Flax which kicked off with drinker respirator. What’s a drinker respirator? asked one of the team. Well, quite. A Ted Hughes protagonist made me think of the Iron Man. Was the first an iron lung? Were we looking for irons? Well, yes. The next was – It separated NATO and the Warsaw Pact, which was surely Iron Curtain. The Iron Chancellor finished it off. The Fell Walkers chose the Eye of Horus next because it was looking at them in a funny way. My toe bleeds, Betty didn’t shout out to me anything much, although any phrase which ends with Betty tends to conjure up a mental picture of a fresh faced Michael Crawford. Teacher! Teacher didn’t make it much clearer for me, nor did Who cooks for you. I was nowhere near, but I loved the answer of titles of foreign versions of original British sitcoms. Victoria liked it too, even though it was wrong. The last clue was – a little bit of bread and no cheese. I had no idea. Ian I think had the answer, with transliterations of bird calls. Fantastic answer, but I shall be writing the pilot episode of my sitcom A Little Bit Of Bread and No Cheese over the summer holiday, I think. The Francs, off to a good start, looked to capitalize with Horned Viper, voicing the second vowel as they should. Mali and Guinea came up, and hello, - I shouted – a five pointer. The Francs were close with the same flag, and closer with reverse them, but actually it was you need to rotate them. Thanks Sporcle. Two Reeds fell for the Fells, and brought them a set of pictures. The first was Battersea Power Station – hello, I thought – Pink Floyd Albums? A pair of hands shaking – so we had Animals, then Wish You Were Here, and if I’d had the guts to go for it, which I wouldn’t have done in the studio, then it would have been two five pointers in a row. A brick wall came next, and I predicted the next would be a prism. Which was right. Sam of the Francs groaned as Lion brought them the music set. Well, the only one I recognized was the last one – Breakfast at Tiffany’s – The Francs were all at sea.The Fells, I think, were in the same boat as me, gusessing they all shared titles with movies. No, they were all meals/mealtimes. Water remained for the Fells. Associated Press didn’t reveal a great deal, Ocean Spray not a lot more. Morning Star- well, that wasn’t it’s original name, but I doubted it would be as simple as that. Were they all, perhaps, names that the Beckhams had considered for their children at one time? John Lewis finished it off. Were they , I wondered, all cooperatives? I knew that the John Lewis Partnership and the Morning Star were. Quite right, as it turned out, and the Fells knew it as well. This meant that as we ran headlong into round two the Francs led by 6 points to 3.
Round Two – What Comes Fourth?
The Francs intrigued Victoria with their choice of the eye of Horus. They were given £1050 – Quercus Genus Specimens – What? Quercus, I thought, was the oak family. Didn’t help. Bowler hat in the USA. Ah. Penny dropped. 1000 Guineas – the Oaks – The Derby – so we would see something representing a saint with a ledger, or something of that ilk – all being English classic horse races. Fabulous set – kudos to the setter. The Fells ignored the chance to buy a bit of luck by leaving the second vowel of Horned viper unvoiced. 1:Umbrella – (Rihanna?) 2: Uptown Girl (Billy Joel? Westlife? Huh?)3: Do They Know It’s Christmas? – Ah – I thought – are we talking about how many different times these songs have got to number one? But in that case, which song would have got there in 4 different times? I rejected Spirit in the Sky and Bohemian Rhapsody, then had an unpleasant mental flashback of Robson and Jerome and plumped correctly for Unchained Melody. Neither team really had the point of the set, being seduced by the fact that Do They Know It’s Christmas was a Christmas number 1. Lion gave the Francs Romantic – Classical – Baroque, and Sam, who had sussed out the set early, explained that these were consecutively earlier periods of musical epoch. Water gave the Fells 1>>8- 8>>10 – 10>>19 - . Sorry, but no answer from the Clark sofa. The teams didn’t know either. Basically – one ends in E. The next number up from one that starts with E is Eight. The next number up from eight that starts with T is ten. You see how it works. Fiendish, but that’s why we watch the show. Two reeds showed a set of pictures, kicking off with what looked like a tiger lily – next was a blond young lady – then some peaches, and at the same time as I was saying – Geldof, so were the Francs. Admittedly Paul Yates is actually the real connection. I suggested the oldest of Paula Yates’ daughters as Fifi Trixibelle, and so did the Francs, correctly so. Which left the Fells to chance their collective arm with twisted flax. F: Pale Yellow didn’t shout out anything to me, other than – you don’t know it, Dave. Cl: yellow green. Nope – still struggling. The Fells looked to be onto something good, suggesting next might be bromine: brown. Close – Br: dark red. So working through the halogens we’d have iodine – I next. Which colour? Gawd knows. Having worked so hard on it the Fells fell at the last by giving us sodium. The Francs had iodine, but not the colour, purple. So the Francs did not extend their lead further, but a score of 12 – 3 looked pretty convincing for them.
Round Three – The Connecting Walls
The Fells kicked off, and they needed the Lion Wall to yield up all of its secrets to give them the best chance of prevailing in the final round. The sounds of bells looked to be a set. Sean Penn films looked promising as well. The bells were resolved with ding dong – tintinnabulation-bong and knell. Slaughter – Milk – Raise and Dehorn they knew were all things you can do to or with cattle. There was a beautiful set of phonetic renderings of Prime Ministers names there – Peal – Blare – Lore and Rustle, and they needed a little bit of leeway to get there on that one, and once they had them, bingo, we were done. This left Bad Boys – Colours – Mystic River and The Game. Sadly they just didn’t know that Sean Penn was in them. Still 7 points meant that the vowels game would at least be doable, and depending on the performance of the Francs on the Lion Wall, could become very interesting.
Right away they saw chess games, and I saw Houblon and Leigh Pemberton –Governors in a Bank of England stylee - . Very quickly they unraveled en passant – stalemate – gambit and castle for the chess terms. The Bank of England Governors – George – King – Houblon and Leigh Pemberton followed quickly. Looking at what was left I am ashamed to admit that I recognized X Men more quickly than Beckett plays. The Francs knew they were both there, and did it on the first go. Angel – Rogue – Cyclops and Storm were the X Men, and Endgame – Footfalls – Rockaby and Happy Days the plays. So the Francs duly increased their lead – now 22 – 10.
Round Four – Missing Vowels
The first set – Presidents of Footlights – fell 2 apiece, and saw a nice name check for Mr. Victoria Coren – David Mitchell. The next set, things a publican might say, saw the Fells take 2 and the Francs lose 1. Still a huge gap to bridge. Former Spanish colonies saw a welcome name check for Federated States of Micronesia – we don’t hear enough about them these days. This category fell 4 – 0 to the Francs. Fashion tropes gave just enough time for the Fells to pick up 2, and take their score to 16, while the Francs walked onwards into the semis with 27. Again, after the very close set of matches in the first tranche this was a little more convincing, and the Francs looked pretty good value for their win. Nil desperandum Fells, though, as there’s still another chance. Good show.
Another show which put two unbeaten teams against each other to sort out who went straight into the semis. The Francophiles won a great close game against the Festival Fans in their first match. Well, we’ve already seen that the Fans are a formidable team, having won their second match. So the team of Ian Clark , Sam Goodyear, and captain Mark Walton were fancied to go well in this show. Well, they were on the Clark sofa, anyway. The Fell Walkers beat the General Practitioners with a very convincing performance on the vowels in their own first round. The GPS are out of the series, losing fairly convincingly to the Festival Fans, the Francophiles own victims. So maybe I was doing Jim Taylor, Craig Almond and captain Mike Amberry a disservice, but my pre show form guide suggested they would be underdogs.
Round One – What’s the Connection?
The Francs won the toss and elected to be first receivers. Captain Mark opted for Twisted Flax which kicked off with drinker respirator. What’s a drinker respirator? asked one of the team. Well, quite. A Ted Hughes protagonist made me think of the Iron Man. Was the first an iron lung? Were we looking for irons? Well, yes. The next was – It separated NATO and the Warsaw Pact, which was surely Iron Curtain. The Iron Chancellor finished it off. The Fell Walkers chose the Eye of Horus next because it was looking at them in a funny way. My toe bleeds, Betty didn’t shout out to me anything much, although any phrase which ends with Betty tends to conjure up a mental picture of a fresh faced Michael Crawford. Teacher! Teacher didn’t make it much clearer for me, nor did Who cooks for you. I was nowhere near, but I loved the answer of titles of foreign versions of original British sitcoms. Victoria liked it too, even though it was wrong. The last clue was – a little bit of bread and no cheese. I had no idea. Ian I think had the answer, with transliterations of bird calls. Fantastic answer, but I shall be writing the pilot episode of my sitcom A Little Bit Of Bread and No Cheese over the summer holiday, I think. The Francs, off to a good start, looked to capitalize with Horned Viper, voicing the second vowel as they should. Mali and Guinea came up, and hello, - I shouted – a five pointer. The Francs were close with the same flag, and closer with reverse them, but actually it was you need to rotate them. Thanks Sporcle. Two Reeds fell for the Fells, and brought them a set of pictures. The first was Battersea Power Station – hello, I thought – Pink Floyd Albums? A pair of hands shaking – so we had Animals, then Wish You Were Here, and if I’d had the guts to go for it, which I wouldn’t have done in the studio, then it would have been two five pointers in a row. A brick wall came next, and I predicted the next would be a prism. Which was right. Sam of the Francs groaned as Lion brought them the music set. Well, the only one I recognized was the last one – Breakfast at Tiffany’s – The Francs were all at sea.The Fells, I think, were in the same boat as me, gusessing they all shared titles with movies. No, they were all meals/mealtimes. Water remained for the Fells. Associated Press didn’t reveal a great deal, Ocean Spray not a lot more. Morning Star- well, that wasn’t it’s original name, but I doubted it would be as simple as that. Were they all, perhaps, names that the Beckhams had considered for their children at one time? John Lewis finished it off. Were they , I wondered, all cooperatives? I knew that the John Lewis Partnership and the Morning Star were. Quite right, as it turned out, and the Fells knew it as well. This meant that as we ran headlong into round two the Francs led by 6 points to 3.
Round Two – What Comes Fourth?
The Francs intrigued Victoria with their choice of the eye of Horus. They were given £1050 – Quercus Genus Specimens – What? Quercus, I thought, was the oak family. Didn’t help. Bowler hat in the USA. Ah. Penny dropped. 1000 Guineas – the Oaks – The Derby – so we would see something representing a saint with a ledger, or something of that ilk – all being English classic horse races. Fabulous set – kudos to the setter. The Fells ignored the chance to buy a bit of luck by leaving the second vowel of Horned viper unvoiced. 1:Umbrella – (Rihanna?) 2: Uptown Girl (Billy Joel? Westlife? Huh?)3: Do They Know It’s Christmas? – Ah – I thought – are we talking about how many different times these songs have got to number one? But in that case, which song would have got there in 4 different times? I rejected Spirit in the Sky and Bohemian Rhapsody, then had an unpleasant mental flashback of Robson and Jerome and plumped correctly for Unchained Melody. Neither team really had the point of the set, being seduced by the fact that Do They Know It’s Christmas was a Christmas number 1. Lion gave the Francs Romantic – Classical – Baroque, and Sam, who had sussed out the set early, explained that these were consecutively earlier periods of musical epoch. Water gave the Fells 1>>8- 8>>10 – 10>>19 - . Sorry, but no answer from the Clark sofa. The teams didn’t know either. Basically – one ends in E. The next number up from one that starts with E is Eight. The next number up from eight that starts with T is ten. You see how it works. Fiendish, but that’s why we watch the show. Two reeds showed a set of pictures, kicking off with what looked like a tiger lily – next was a blond young lady – then some peaches, and at the same time as I was saying – Geldof, so were the Francs. Admittedly Paul Yates is actually the real connection. I suggested the oldest of Paula Yates’ daughters as Fifi Trixibelle, and so did the Francs, correctly so. Which left the Fells to chance their collective arm with twisted flax. F: Pale Yellow didn’t shout out anything to me, other than – you don’t know it, Dave. Cl: yellow green. Nope – still struggling. The Fells looked to be onto something good, suggesting next might be bromine: brown. Close – Br: dark red. So working through the halogens we’d have iodine – I next. Which colour? Gawd knows. Having worked so hard on it the Fells fell at the last by giving us sodium. The Francs had iodine, but not the colour, purple. So the Francs did not extend their lead further, but a score of 12 – 3 looked pretty convincing for them.
Round Three – The Connecting Walls
The Fells kicked off, and they needed the Lion Wall to yield up all of its secrets to give them the best chance of prevailing in the final round. The sounds of bells looked to be a set. Sean Penn films looked promising as well. The bells were resolved with ding dong – tintinnabulation-bong and knell. Slaughter – Milk – Raise and Dehorn they knew were all things you can do to or with cattle. There was a beautiful set of phonetic renderings of Prime Ministers names there – Peal – Blare – Lore and Rustle, and they needed a little bit of leeway to get there on that one, and once they had them, bingo, we were done. This left Bad Boys – Colours – Mystic River and The Game. Sadly they just didn’t know that Sean Penn was in them. Still 7 points meant that the vowels game would at least be doable, and depending on the performance of the Francs on the Lion Wall, could become very interesting.
Right away they saw chess games, and I saw Houblon and Leigh Pemberton –Governors in a Bank of England stylee - . Very quickly they unraveled en passant – stalemate – gambit and castle for the chess terms. The Bank of England Governors – George – King – Houblon and Leigh Pemberton followed quickly. Looking at what was left I am ashamed to admit that I recognized X Men more quickly than Beckett plays. The Francs knew they were both there, and did it on the first go. Angel – Rogue – Cyclops and Storm were the X Men, and Endgame – Footfalls – Rockaby and Happy Days the plays. So the Francs duly increased their lead – now 22 – 10.
Round Four – Missing Vowels
The first set – Presidents of Footlights – fell 2 apiece, and saw a nice name check for Mr. Victoria Coren – David Mitchell. The next set, things a publican might say, saw the Fells take 2 and the Francs lose 1. Still a huge gap to bridge. Former Spanish colonies saw a welcome name check for Federated States of Micronesia – we don’t hear enough about them these days. This category fell 4 – 0 to the Francs. Fashion tropes gave just enough time for the Fells to pick up 2, and take their score to 16, while the Francs walked onwards into the semis with 27. Again, after the very close set of matches in the first tranche this was a little more convincing, and the Francs looked pretty good value for their win. Nil desperandum Fells, though, as there’s still another chance. Good show.
Thursday, 4 July 2013
Winning at Trivial Pursuit
I think that I’ve alluded to my love-hate relationship with Trivial Pursuit™ in the past. Well, I don’t want to go over ground that has been so well trodden in the past, but I would like to tell you about a book I picked up the other day. I was in a charity shop a couple of days ago and I couldn’t help noticing a book with the enticing title “Winning at Trivial Pursuit™”. Immediately I wondered whether you’d simply find the words –Learn the Answers, Stupid! – printed on each page. Now, your Dave is not the kind of person to stand there in a charity shop, reading half a book before deciding not to buy it anyway, so I bought it, and took it home for a closer look.
As it happens, ‘learn the answers, stupid!‘ is one of a few suggestions that it doesn’t make. In fact Jeff Rovin, the author of the book, pours positive scorn upon the idea of doing such, and sees it as very much against the spirit of the game. Well, that I can understand, and even respect. However at the same time as telling you this, he devotes no fewer than 10 pages to techniques you can use to psych out, and put off your opponents. A slight case of double standards there, Jeffrey, I think.
I’ll be honest, a lot of the tactical advice it gives is of the ‘Sybil Fawlty – Specialist subject – The Bleedin’ Obvious’ variety. It’s certainly not a great book, but it’s not without its interest though. Anything I read that goes into the psychology of question setting, and getting into the mindset of the person who set the questions in order to help you answer them will always have my attention, whether I think it’s complete tosh or not. It’s an American book, and so where it discusses the questions it is discussing the original American question sets, which were greatly revised and changed for the British versions. Still, it was interesting to see just how much the original setters pandered to their own personal pet topics. For example, in the Art and Literature section there are more questions about Playboy than about any other magazine. Penthouse is third. In the Entertainment category I can understand having more questions about Gone With the Wind and even Jaws than any other films, but the Poseidon Adventure? Even more than that, The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming!? I can’t be certain, but I’d guess that the setters were committing the question master’s cardinal sin of showing a huge bias towards their own pet likes and dislikes.
I don’t play Trivial Pursuit ™ very often anyway, but I have to be honest, I still think that the best tactic, and the surest way of winning, is the same as with any other quiz. Know more of the answers than the other feller.
As it happens, ‘learn the answers, stupid!‘ is one of a few suggestions that it doesn’t make. In fact Jeff Rovin, the author of the book, pours positive scorn upon the idea of doing such, and sees it as very much against the spirit of the game. Well, that I can understand, and even respect. However at the same time as telling you this, he devotes no fewer than 10 pages to techniques you can use to psych out, and put off your opponents. A slight case of double standards there, Jeffrey, I think.
I’ll be honest, a lot of the tactical advice it gives is of the ‘Sybil Fawlty – Specialist subject – The Bleedin’ Obvious’ variety. It’s certainly not a great book, but it’s not without its interest though. Anything I read that goes into the psychology of question setting, and getting into the mindset of the person who set the questions in order to help you answer them will always have my attention, whether I think it’s complete tosh or not. It’s an American book, and so where it discusses the questions it is discussing the original American question sets, which were greatly revised and changed for the British versions. Still, it was interesting to see just how much the original setters pandered to their own personal pet topics. For example, in the Art and Literature section there are more questions about Playboy than about any other magazine. Penthouse is third. In the Entertainment category I can understand having more questions about Gone With the Wind and even Jaws than any other films, but the Poseidon Adventure? Even more than that, The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming!? I can’t be certain, but I’d guess that the setters were committing the question master’s cardinal sin of showing a huge bias towards their own pet likes and dislikes.
I don’t play Trivial Pursuit ™ very often anyway, but I have to be honest, I still think that the best tactic, and the surest way of winning, is the same as with any other quiz. Know more of the answers than the other feller.
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